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A crowd-funded barista training program is coming to a unique local coffee shop.

Rolling out in the months ahead, the program will help turn staff members at downtown Toronto’s Coffee Shed in Surrey Place, a business operated by people with developmental challenges, into fully-fledged baristas. It’s the brainchild of Gerald Fantone, the coffee shop’s job coach and a manager and mentor to 16 staff members, better known as business partners.

“I wanted to tap into something that’s trade-specific, and the coffee culture in Toronto is booming at the moment,” says Fantone.

Fantone says that money will buy a commercial-grade espresso machine, a grinder and other coffee accessories, and pay for a barista training program featuring consultation with barista institutes across the city.

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It will help the Coffee Shed staff build their skill set from making basic coffee to brewing gourmet espresso-based drinks – and, potentially, allow them to find employment down the road at mainstream coffee shops.

Daniella Halperin has a laugh with her coffee at the Coffee Shed in Surrey Place, a coffee shop run by people with developmental challenges. (Richard Lautens / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

A new barista training program is opening up at a Toronto coffee shop called Coffee Shed that employs people with developmental challenges, like autism spectrum disorder and Down syndrome. Gerald Fantone is the job coach who organizes and runs the shop.
(Richard Lautens / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

Paul Wong, 34, has been working at the Coffee Shed at Surrey Place, located north of College Street near Bay, for 10 years and says he’s excited for the upcoming training program. “I’ve learned how to make coffee and do paperwork, and help clients and staff,” he says about his experience so far.

The staff are all friends, he adds. “We work as a team. We work a lot — and we have fun.”

The Coffee Shed was launched in 2001 by the Common Ground Co-operative, an organization that creates social enterprise opportunities for adults with autism spectrum disorder, Down syndrome and other developmental challenges.

According to executive director Jennifer Hope, the organization operates several other social enterprises, including two other Coffee Shed locations alongside the one at Surrey Place — a centre near Queen’s Park that provides specialized clinical services to people living with developmental disabilities.

Right now, the coffee shop’s team is serving over a hundred cups of coffee a day, primarily to clients and staff at Surrey Place.

The new training program will be rolling out in the months ahead, Fantone says, starting with the purchase of new espresso equipment in the spring and the training starting shortly after.

Now in his third year as a job coach, Fantone was amazed by the outpouring of financial support for the “Made by Mavericks” cause.

The campaign is also in the top five non-profits in the running for the “Start Something With Alesse” competition. The competition, sponsored by the contraceptive brand, offers winners $5,000 and mentorship to help get their project off the ground.

But the campaign is about more than winning contests or making fancy espressos. Fantone has seen first-hand how a rewarding job can make a difference in the lives of people with developmental challenges.

“I’ve had partners who barely talked when I first met them. But just being surrounded by people that they know, that they trust, and people that won’t judge them on what they do, I think that’s been a big instigation for them to grow and break out of their shell,” he says.

“And just to show everyone what they’re capable of. A lot of times they surpass the goals that we lay out for them because it’s such a positive environment — they can just be who they are.”

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